


Another angel down

by gloatingraccoon



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Families of Choice, Family Issues, Friendship, Gen, Giftstuck, Humanstuck, Love, M/M, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:10:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloatingraccoon/pseuds/gloatingraccoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is Eridan Ampora, you're with your family and this Christmas Eve you're going to have the time of your life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another angel down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [princessofmind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessofmind/gifts).



Your name is Eridan Ampora and you have the nagging feeling this Christmas is going to suck balls before even starting.

It's Christmas Eve and you're not sure how long you've been ranting at Feferi over the phone, pacing up and down your room, but you're pretty sure it was not so dark outside when you started, mostly because you tripped on your own chair at some point and you had to turn on the light to avoid worse consequences, which didn't really help with your mood. Where would you be if you couldn't vent with Feferi? To be fair, you're not really paying attention to her sparse comments on the issue, or even leaving her much room to elaborate between one angry tirade and the other, for that matter, but it's not like you care much at the moment, let's face it. You're a ranting atom bomb tonight. You have all the drama, all of it, all rushing out of your mouth like a neverending fountain of fucks you don't give. You're unstoppable. You're --

"For the love of glub, Eridan! I have to go pick up Aradia and Kanaya and I still have to shower, and we're going to be late as fuck if you don't SHUT UP!"

Feferi's indignant explosion cuts you off like a slap on the face, and only then you take the whole situation in. You breathe deeply, rubbing at your temples. You're unstoppable. An unstoppable, self-centered drama queen as usual, aren't you?

"Shit, Fef, I'm sorry. It's just it makes me mad, and..."

"I know, Eridan, and I'm sorry for blowing up at you. Just give me a hour or so and we'll get there, ok? We're going to have fun, and we're not going to let this ruin your Christmas."

You sigh and drop heavily on your chair as you hang up, resisting the sudden urge of throwing your iPhone somewhere just to hear it break. Aradia told you breaking things does miracles for stress relief, but as much as you'd love to get your hands on the brand new iPhone, you can't afford it (yet). It's 7 pm. You just spent over 2 hours between trying to call your father, fighting with your brother and ranting at Fef. Wow. What a fabulous Christmas Eve.

You catch a glimpse of your face reflected on the computer's monitor, currently turned off, and you frown. Long nose, freckles, ridiculously sensitive pale skin, red hair. You still look way too much like a younger clone of your father for your tastes, even with the bleached tuft in your hair that he made such a careful show of despising. How can you set yourself further apart? Maybe a piercing or two? Nah. No offense to Porrim but any piercings beyond the little stud on your left ear kinda creep you out. You'd grow a beard if you didn't already know yours is ridiculously sparse.

Whatever. There's nothing you can do that will convince your family that you're your own person and not a failed replica of your father. Nothing is ever good for them.

"So. Finally drained the iPhone?"

The low, slightly lisping voice behind you almost startles you, but you have no doubt over who it belongs to as you get up and turn around. Leaning on your bedroom's door frame, a pale, skinny Asian young man with a mess of spiky jet black hair returns your glance, or at least you assume he does, given the extravagant red and blue glasses only your dork of a boyfriend wears for obscure reasons - the same obscure reasons you imagine bring him to do things such as using mismatched socks and not throwing away into the trash the worn old sweater with a creepy cartoony bee on the front he's currently wearing (you aim to make it "mysteriously disappear" when he isn't looking as soon as you give him your gift, a designer sweater with a red and blue diamond pattern you just know he's going to love). This man is a mystery, and sometimes you're not quite sure if you like him because or in spite of that.

"That loud?" You groan, rubbing at your neck, and he smirks, taking a few steps towards you with his hands in his pockets.

"You're always loud, but there's some weird acoustics there. From the living room you can hear _anything_. So, are you going to sulk here for the rest of the night?"

You cross your arms on your chest with a huff.

"It's just... you know what he said? I mean Cro, because heaven forbid I actually get to talk to dad. He said _'I don't know, I have to see, I have to hear from father, we'll let you know'_ , I was expectin' him to pull out the good ol' _'I'm washin' my hair tomorrow'_ excuse any moment! I just want to see my family once in a while, and they just keep cuttin' me off without even havin' the balls to go and fuckin' say it! What do I have to do, what the fuck are they expectin' from me?"

"Oh come on, ED... you know it ends up like this every time." Sollux rolls his eyes, shrugging. "Screw them, they're not worth your time."

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say!" You scoff, and you instantly regret it as he frowns. You put your hands up, groaning. "Ugh, ok... I'm sorry. But you know how it is... they're my family."

"And who cares?" Sollux squeezes at your shoulders, trying to get you to look at him, but you stubbornly refuse. "I get that you miss them, but... every time you try to patch things up, they do nothing but hurt you, belittle you or ignore you. When you chose your own career they cut you off, when you came out they didn't even want to hear it... yes, they are your family, but what good does that do?" His arms knot around the back of your head, and you return the hug, hiding your face in his shoulder. "Listen, ED... I remember my biological parents, and let me tell you, I don't give a shit about them and I don't see why I should. Paul and Chase raised me and took care of me, they are my dads, my true family." Sollux sighs and his voice drops low and soft like a whisper, slightly shaking, as if nothing came harder to him in this moment than simply breaking the silence. " _You_ are my family, just like AA and KK. You don't need them, and most of all you don't owe them. You found your own way, and if they don't want to be a part of it then who gives a shit. It's their loss."

You feel his hand pull at your chin and this time you reluctantly look at him. His absurd glasses have slipped down the tip of his nose and he's not pulling them back up, you can see his mismatched eyes -one dark brown, the other golden honey- looking right at you, open and vulnerable. Sollux is not like you, always baring out loud your emotions for all to see as if you needed someone else's attention to remind you that you're real. He's not used to talk about his feelings openly, preferring to let his actions do the talking - but it's exactly what he's doing right now. He's being there for you, and he's talking it out with you not because he needs to, but because he knows you do. He knows what you need to hear, although it's not necessarily what you _want_ to hear. And now that you think about it, this is much more than your so called family ever did for you.

You shake your head, smiling despite yourself.

"You know what? You're right. I have all the family I need." You squeeze him back and bow slightly to kiss him softly; the sweet, fresh taste that melts in your mouth at that touch clearly tells you that a certain someone just found the expensive mint chocolates you got for dessert, and in other occasions it would tick you off, but right now, you don't really care. "It's just... it's hard, and it's complicated. It's gonna take me some time."

Sollux smirks and rolls his eyes, adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah, I know. It's hard and nobody understands, as usual. But there's no hurry. Just try to have fun and take your mind off things tonight, ok? KK's not going to forgive you if you sulk around all night after what we've done."

You cock your head on a side, taken aback.

"You've done... what?"

Sollux snorts just as a familiar, raspy voice bellows from the living room.

"Hey! Are you lousy love pigeons done with the courting or what? You're missing out on a fucking masterpiece here, just saying!"

You don't know if it's just a coincidence or if Karkat can really hear _anything_ from the living room (you hope for him it's not the latter, remembering a certain very drunk night with very drunk sex not so long ago when he slept on the couch). But what you do know, after Sollux leads you back to the living room refusing to explain any further, is that the skinny plastic Christmas tree you had hastily put together by the window (before you got sidetracked by your family calls) is now barely recognizable. Festoons drape the fake tree shape with shimmering waves of red, gold and purple, ribbons and silvery baubles hanging from the branches. And the angels. Those handmade wooden figurines with creepy puckered lips that accompanied all your Christmases. The angels are everywhere, the biggest one with the trumpet on the tree top, as is customary. Sollux murmurs a sarcastic "ta-dah", reaching for a barely visible cable on the side of the tree, and a grove of tiny twinkling Christmas lights appears, alternating red and blue.

It's the most ridiculous, gaudy and over the top piece of plastic you've ever seen, and it's beautiful.

You don't see Karkat at first, then the familiar figure of a stocky, black little dude with a wild mane of frizzy hair emerges from behind the tree, a triumphant glow in his eyes, and you notice he's munching on some mint chocolates too.

"There you go, decked to the fucking nines!" Karkat says, joining you and Sollux to admire the colourful monstrosity. "Now we can say it's Christmas Eve for real."

"Shit, KK, you made it even more horrible than I last saw it!" Sollux smirks. "What is your secret?"

"It's not horrible, it's a work of art, and I'll have you know I am a born artist," Karkat snaps back, and you decide to step in before the snarkfest goes overboard.

"Guys... I'm outta words, seriously. It's perfect. And hey, it's not a Christmas tree if it's not over the top, right? But..." you squint, rubbing at your chin, "you know, there's somethin' I've been thinkin'. About the angels."

"What about them?" Karkat shrugs. "I thought you liked them, every year you make such a big deal of them."

"Yeah, well, the thin' is... they're hand carved and all and they're a childhood memory, but as time goes by they've been gettin' sorta creepy. I mean, look at them. What the fuck is that, a duck face or somethin'? Also, they were my dad's favourites and, well, I'm kinda fed up with his bullshit today. I'm thinkin' we could take them down and put them back in the box for a change."

You don't see Sollux moving. You do hear him say "good idea" or something to that effect, but you don't quite catch what he does, if he even moves at all. It's not the first time it happens, and you really have no idea how he does: you'd swear he moves things with his thoughts sometimes. But you do see a glimpse of something small and dark - maybe a lump of crumpled paper from the chocolate box, maybe a pen cap, or maybe whatever - zip like a bee across the room, and then the huge, disturbing angel with a trumpet gets knocked off the top of the tree and ends up tumbling down under a counter.

For a moment, for just one moment, the living room is completely silent while you and Karkat process what just happened, and then you just hit the point of no return. You crack up laughing and go get another makeshift projectile.

When the girls arrive around 8 pm, they find the three of you laughing like morons and shooting angels down with walnut shells, and you haven't even started preparing dinner yet. But you don't really care. You just squeeze Feferi in a tight hug, let Kanaya fix your hair and challenge Aradia to get the best shot.

Your name is Eridan Ampora and you're with your family - the one you chose for yourself. This Christmas Eve you're going to have the time of your life.


End file.
